N11, The Strongest Pack

That day I hadn’t slept at all. After coming back from one of our hunting expeditions Number Two had fallen asleep and soon began to gasp with rapid and loud breaths. At first I thought he was ill, I checked him and noticed his body was really hot and he wouldn’t wake up no matter what I did.

It took me some time to realize he was slowly changing, his body became more muscular, his snout got thicker, fur grew on his tail. Many little changes happened in the spawn of a few hours, afterwards the rat slept peacefully and I didn’t disturb him.

But I had been awake all that time, Number Two had always been the least loyal of my subordinates, I wondered what he would do once he woke up, would he leave the band? I hadn’t seen any pack with more than one fierce rat.

There was even worse possibilities, he might try to fight me for the leader position or leave with some of the goons. I couldn’t stop worrying, the only saving grace was that my injuries from the lizard fight had already healed.

‘Maybe I should wake up Number One.’

Number One was my most faithful subordinate, I was sure he would help me if Number Two decided to rebel, at the very least he wouldn’t take his side.

As I was getting more and more concerned about the potential betrayal the members of the gang began waking up, among them Number Two. He looked at me for a moment and I tried my best to appear unfazed. The now fierce rat soon lost interest and focused his attention somewhere else.

I observed him, there was nothing outside of the norm. He was behaving like always, playing, or rather bullying, some of the goons under his care.

‘Maybe he didn’t notice the change yet.’

I was also oblivious to it at first. Now that I thought about it I hadn’t felt any changes in my mental state after evolving, if something my thoughts had become a tad less dense. But I was a special case, the fact that humans called them fierce rats, along with their nature of being the only evolved individuals in their packs didn’t let me relax.

Most members of the gang didn’t show much of a reaction to Number Two’s new form. They shot a few curious gazes his way before focusing on their own business. Only Number One seemed a bit concerned about the change.

‘Nice, it looks like he will back me up if something happens.’

Number One took a long glance at Number Two and then examined his own paws.

‘Or maybe he is just bothered that he wasn’t the first one to evolve.’

I stood on guard but Number Two didn’t make any suspicious movements, soon it was time to leave in search of food.

‘Well, I guess I will have to take things slowly for the time being.’

I had no option but figure little by little if Number Two would cause problems in the future.

…

A few periods of sleep had went by and we were feeding on our last prey, another lizard.

I had been testing Number Two and I didn’t think he would leave the band nor betray me, at least for now. He had indeed become more aggressive than before. Sometimes he would ignore my orders and jump head on into a fight, and more than once he had tried to eat the lizard’s tail that was reserved for me. Every time he disobeyed my orders I would scold and headbutt him. He protested, but always ended up backing down.

I had also noticed that Number One and some of the goons would throw hostile gazes at him in those occasions. I thought that as long as I kept remembering him who was in charge here I wouldn’t have any problems.

I had entertained the possibility of kicking him out, but had discarded it. It would be a bad precedent for the gang, and hunts were a lot easier with Number Two’s help. While I was distracting the lizard he would take the chance to bit it to death, even the times he had jumped in prematurely we had managed to end the fights quickly.

‘I’m pretty sure the two of us could take care of a lizard if needed.’

It would be slightly risky, and we would sustain some injuries, but I was sure it was doable. Anyway, now that I had another fierce rat with me the other packs were wary of us.

‘Our pack is probably the strongest one down here.’

I had been aware of that fact for some time and had been planing to take care of an old grudge. It was time to kill the fucking bastard and the pack who had eaten me alive during my second awakening.

‘I’m so happy he is still alive.’

At first I hadn’t been able to find his whereabouts and had almost given up, but after a meticulous search of the underground I had finally located him. He had managed to survive in a far away corner of the hallways that the humans rarely visited. Currently he was the head of a small pack of six rats. I didn’t know if they were the same ones that had killed me, but it didn’t matter, none of them would be spared.

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When I found his pack my first reaction was to kill him on the spot, but the situation with Number Two was still unclear at the time. I would rather wait a bit longer than risk my underlings for a personal strife.

‘Just wait a bit longer, I’m going to kill you and devour your body!’

I would give back the pain he had caused me. I wouldn’t be able to rest in peace knowing I had ignored the chance to get revenge. He was the reason I had started assembling this band.

‘Should I strike as soon as Number One and Number Three evolve? Or will that be too late?’

I wanted to act soon, before he changed his location or disappeared forever under a wave of voracious crabs. But the matters in my gang had priority. Those two would evolve soon and although I was confident they would remain loyal to me I should exercise some caution.

With four fierce rats in my gang our strength would soar. Only the humans and the dogs in the hallways would pose a threat to us.

‘The humans may be specially troublesome.’

If they caught wind of the big pack I had been assembling they may decide to actively hunt us, but I had already made plans for that. Once I was done with all my business in the hallways I would leave our lair and settle in a place with less people.

‘And that bastard is the last thing I have to deal with in this place.’

I had already decided, the rat bastard would be my next target. His pack was small, I didn’t any special preparation to take them on. After that I would leave the hallways and wait for Number One and Number Three to evolve.

“Shriik?”

One of the older goons interrupted my machinations. Looking around I saw that everyone had finished feeding and were just loitering around. I had been too focused on my plans and had lost track of time. There was a lot on my mind.

“Shriik! shrii shriik!”

I called everyone, we should head to the lair and have some rest, we had a lot to do in the next few days.

…

There they were, the bastard and his herd of minions. They had already spotted us. The small rats were uneasily looking at us, meanwhile, their bastard of a leader showed a cautious and slightly hostile gaze.

‘There is no use in trying to hide it, I know you are a fucking coward.’

I was eager to launch our attack, but I wanted to savor this moment. It had taken me so long to reach this point. I didn’t want to end things too soon.

I was intensely staring at my hated enemy, the fierce rat had surely figured that I hadn’t come with good intentions. I could discard starting the fight with a surprise move, not that it mattered, our side’s strength was clearly superior.

I took a look at my subordinates, this wasn’t our first confrontation with other rats. We had already had some skirmishes with other packs while feeding from the corpses left behind by humans or against the enraged survivors of our lizard hunts.

I could see that Number Two was almost as eager as me, he knew what we were about to do. The rest of the band was behind me, quietly waiting for my orders.

I prepared myself, this fight would be a little chaotic, but it couldn’t be helped.

“SHRIEEK!”

I signaled the start of the fight with a battle cry. All of us rushed together at the enemy pack.

Of course my objective was the bastard, I didn’t know how much he had improved since our first accursed meeting, but I was confident in my strength. The fact that Number Two was heading in the same direction as me was just extra assurance.

The melee started, there was such disparity between our forces that each of the enemy rats were fighting two or three of my underlings.

I didn’t lose any more time worrying about the state of the battle. I used the momentum of my charge to headbutt the bastard and sent him rolling on the ground. It was an unexpected move for him, most rats only used their mouths to fight, rarely they would hit each other with their paws, but that was it for their movement repertory.

I had to act quickly, Number Two had jumped on top of the bastard and was viciously biting his neck. I couldn’t let him snatch away my prey. I took advantage of my subordinate’s actions to end what I had started a long time ago time. I bit the bastard’s face, on top of the old scars and he left out a sharp pained shriek.

The bastard’s squeals brought me immense joy. I kept sinking my teeth on his face and finally managed to take his eye, partially blinding him.

After losing his eye another excruciating shriek escaped the bastard’s throat. He shook his body vigorously and broke free from Number Two’s grip. His neck was bleeding and the left side of his face was a mess. I was sure he had lost half of his vision.

‘I should have blinded you during our first encounter.’

Instead of fighting back the fierce rat tried to escape, leaving his rear completely defenseless. I ran after him and grabbed his tail with my jaws. Number Two passed by my side and attacked his neck again. This time I was the one getting help.

‘This isn’t a fight, it is a one sided beating.’

I had preferred to take revenge alone, but this wasn’t bad. It was now his turn to feel the impotence of dying in an unfair match.

Next I aimed for the right side of his face. I was being deliberately vicious, I hadn’t the slightest bit of sympathy for this bastard. I was letting out all the anger I had accumulated since I woke up in this hellish place.

Having ended his opponent Number One also joined us and bit one of the rat’s front legs.

The bastard’s squeals resounded in the hallway repeatedly, his pain and desperation were patent. He struggled to break free, but more and more of my underlings were joining us, after a bit I stopped massacring his face and fell back to contemplate his last moments.

He was a bloody mess, some of his skull was showing on his mangled face, he had lost his front paws and his tail had been torn to pieces. He was so maimed that I wondered how he was still alive.

‘Was it like this when I died to him?’

Little by little the fierce rat lost his strength under the relentless assault of my minions and his agonizing screeches faded away.

‘If you had let me eat that piece of meat you wouldn’t have ended like this.’

I dedicated him a last spiteful remark. My revenge was now complete. I could move forward without regrets.

I took a look at my minions’ state. I was relieved, some had suffered minor injuries, but they would recover in no time.

Next I focused on the bastard’s corpse, I had wanted to devour him, but with my revenge fulfilled I found myself thinking more rationally. This rat was too personally connected to me, I felt like I would lose part of my humanity if I were to feed on it.

I ate a small bit of the bastard’s flesh. It was a symbol that I had conquered the dangers of the hallways. Then let my underlings take care of the rest.

‘I will no longer starve nor die to the beasts in this place.’

Now there was only one thing left, to move beyond the hallways. I had already took a peek at what lied ahead, on the other side of the lizard’s territory. I planned to move there, away from the hallways plagued by human warriors.